My IMU Journey to Becoming a Doctor

^{Joseph Lau Tiung Sheng (in the photo above) shares his experience studying at IMU}

Becoming a doctor requires immense endurance, strength and passion when caring for others regardless of colour, gender, race, and ethnicity. This, in my opinion, makes it a noble profession. I believe that IMU has provided the necessary knowledge and clinical skills for me to live up and become a great doctor. The teachings in IMU have taught me self-directed learning, which has helped me greatly in thinking critically since the beginning of my journey in MBBS. It has been a great pleasure to have met friends who are both competitive and supportive. We have helped each other during said self-directed learning sessions to further understand the syllabus better, as learning by teaching is proven to be more effective. Hence, this enabled me to adapt to the exponential learning and growth curve in medicine throughout this five-year journey. IMU provided clinical training from my third year onwards which exposed me to real-life clinical situations. Cases encountered in the ward challenged us to apply structured, textbook theories differently. This made the profession intellectually challenging, requiring us to not only keep up with evidence-based medicine, but also the latest and greatest treatment and development in this field. I spent my last posting in Hospital Enche Besar Hajjah Khalsom (HEBHK), Kluang, Johor. It has helped me develop my confidence caring for patients and acquire the skills that are needed as a houseman. The doctors in HEBHK were willing to teach and give me the opportunity to enhance my psychomotor skills by performing procedures that were outside the scope of an undergraduate medical student.

If I were to give some advice, it is important to be pro-active in seizing golden opportunities through observing or performing procedures. If one is truly passionate about the medical field, they would make the necessary sacrifices such as going the extra mile during on-call hours to further deepen one’s knowledge and experience in this wonderful field we know as medicine.

Last but not the least, I want to extend my gratitude and appreciation to my lecturers, mentors, close friends, and family members. The faculty members, especially, have played a massive role in aiding me strengthen my resolve in overcoming hurdles in my learning by imbuing me with knowledge and clarifying my doubts. I am truly grateful for their support throughout the journey.

Written by Joseph Lau